Oilers win and hope

Continental Cup: Donbass can claim title tonight

ROUEN – The Stavanger Oilers did their job to remain in title contention at the 2014 IIHF Continental Cup Super Final. They lead the standings after a 7-2 win over Asiago Hockey but Donbass Donetsk can defend the title by beating winless hosts Rouen Dragons tonight.

The Oilers on the other hand have to place their hopes on the Dragons. The math is simple: Donbass needs a victory – in or after regulation time – against Rouen to win the Continental Cup again, otherwise the Norwegian newcomers will become new Continental Cup champions.

The Oilers showed another solid performance in their third game of the tournament. Linemates Dan Kissel and Jean-Michel Daoust each scored a pair of goals for the Oilers.

“It was pretty solid. We got better game after game. It’s good to win the last game and finish in second, maybe even in first place if we’re lucky tonight,” said Kissel. “We’ll go to eat and then watch the game.”

And what if a miracle happens tonight? “We’ll hang out with our fans and celebrate with them. We have about 150 fans who came down here.”

After chances on both sides it was Finnish forward Juha-Pekka Loikas, who opened the scoring with a long shot on a rebound at 6:26. 49 seconds later Kissel outskated Asiago defenceman Stefano Marchetti and defeated goalkeeper Vincenzo Marozzi for the 2-0 goal.

The Norwegians continued to be the more successful team in the offence. At 11:20 Tommy Kristiansen scored the tournament-leading fourth goal for the 3-0 score.

Asiago had some chances too but it was during a penalty kill when the Italians had an odd-man rush Paul Zanette concluded with the 3-1 goal at 17:44.

With 3.9 seconds left in the period the Stavanger Oilers answered with a shorthanded goal on the other side scored by Daoust for the 4-1 lead.

The Italians eventually managed to capitalize on the power play 68 seconds into the second period with a marker from Sean Bentivoglio but again the Norwegians had the fitting answer ready as they converted the next power play with Martin Strandfeldt’s 5-2 goal at 10:36. 35 seconds later Kissel was credited for a goal when a deflected puck slid over the goal line for the 6-2 score.

At 14:35 Daoust scored the Oilers’ seventh goal on another man advantage that remained as the last marker following a scoreless third period.

While the top-two spots will be clear only after tonight’s game, the result means that Asiago Hockey will finish the event in third place while the Rouen Dragons can’t improve anymore from fourth position.